Stories are about change, and this is especially true of Loki. His goal is to change himself from a “bad god” into a good one. He still has a lot to learn about what that means, but its at the heart of every book. I’m writing Book Four at the moment – A Bad God’s Guide to Making Enemies – and Loki is once again taking a stab at what it means to be good and missing more times than he hits. But I like to think in this story he does get a little closer to a better version of himself. Sort of. Maybe.
Eleanor in the Good Place is very Loki coded now I think about it…Chidi is much more of a Valerie.
Watching the Doctor Who finale reminded me of the ability of a story to change not only a character’s sense of themselves but to change the story itself - to change the rules of the game. I could write essays about the implications of what happened in The Giggle, and I probably will, but this isn’t the place. What I want to say here is that it’s reminded me of the infinite possibility of story. As a writer, the idea that “anything can happen” is both terrifying and liberating. But the older I get, the more it tends towards the latter. The Doctor can change. The story can change. Loki can change, as can his world. Don’t get too comfortable, readers.
On the left: the reader
On the right: the Loki arc
Waterstones Piccadilly: bigger on the inside
I had an utterly incredible time signing Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Ruling the World at Waterstones Piccadilly the other day, alongside many excellent authors. But what really made my day was a Loki reader giving me his sonic screwdriver. One thing led to another and now I’m travelling through time and space with my new companions, Maz Evans and MG Leonard. A big thank you to the reader who gave me the sonic. It was incredibly touching, and I will NOT forget. Nor let anyone else forget as it’s all I’ve been talking about for weeks.
An exhibition you cannot miss
If you’re able to get to London before February, please, please, please go and see the Fantasy exhibition [LS1] at the British Library. There’s also a programme of talks which I highly recommend – and I believe you can catch up online on ones you missed. I saw my friend Roz Kaveny interviewing Neil Gaiman. And, most recently, there was a day of fantasy talks which gave me an intense shot in the arm of inspiration from artists Brian and Wendy Froud and Alan Lee, as well as RF Kuang, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Ellen Kushner. Still more talks to come!
Something Brian Froud said stuck in my mind. He was asked to give advice to young artists, and said words to the effect of “do the unpopular thing, do YOUR thing.” And that’s what I strive for, even if I sometimes fall short.
Meeting Alan Lee (above) and Brian Froud (below) was incredible.
Childhood and teenage icons of mine, both of them. From Alan Lee’s Lord of the Rings illustrations to Froud’s goblins, they both helped shape my sense of the world beyond ours, and helped me understand what I find beautiful. Short answer? The liminal. The weird. The numinous. (Also: Numenor)
LEFT TO RIGHT: Terri Windling, who moderated deftly and thoughtfully, Wendy Froud who makes incredible puppets – Dark Crystal! – then Brian Froud and Alan Lee on the right.
LOKI HAS SOMETHING TO SAY…. But you’ll have to wait for [censored book title] to read it
There’s something about listening to others talk about their work that always inspires mine, however indirectly. After the day of talks, I had the final confrontation with Loki and a villain drop into my head complete. I always knew roughly where Loki was headed as a character, but now I know with utter clarity. And I can’t wait to write it all. Though next stop is drawing book four, featuring a brand new character design that I’m still refining but enoying very much. A skull is featured. Probably. I never know until the design work is complete, and that involves a lot of back and forth with Jamie, designer extraordinaire, at Walker. Usually along the lines of “dude that outfit is way too fiddly, do you want to die when you draw that for the 400th time?”
Worldbuilding
The Adrian Tchaikovsky and Ellen Kushner talk I saw at the Britisih Library was on worldbuilding and they discussed their different processes. Tchaikovsky described worldbuilding as dropping a stone in a pond and watching the ripples. The stone being the main “what if” of your fantasy or SF world. That made a lot of sense to me.
It reminded me of a discussion on threads recently. Someone asked how people develop their magic systems. You can read the full discussion here. By the way, Threads (so far) has some great chat about writing and publishing (and Doctor Who).
https://www.threads.net/@louiestowell/post/Czs3ofLNg4J
For example, with Loki, I knew Loki would use wand magic, but the details of that magic I developed over time and through writing. It's very very very loosely based on seiðr (mostly the female/Other coding of it not what the magic specifically DOES). It's mostly that Loki's wand is based on a real wand/staff. Viking Seiðr is more focussed on the future rather than shaping the world in the present, but the cultural resonances of it were important to me. Loki is the Other, the one who doesn’t fit into society. He’s also not a he a lot of the time such as….well. The pain of writing a series that’s planned out in quite a lot of detail is there are so many things I want to say but can’t yet.
So I’ll leave you there. Hope you all get to have a break over Christmas! And tell me what you think about the Doctor Who specials so far, and Christmas when it comes…which is soooon!
Louie xxx
It’s refreshing and heartening to hear, from a writing point of view, that whilst you have known where Loki was headed for a long time, things have been sketchy and just now fallen into place. I always have this idea that book series authors have everything mapped out from the outset. I very much do not 😅